8:10am Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Claire Fry
THE University of Worcester has been forced to scale down its immediate plans for its new £100 million city campus.
The university is in the middle of redeveloping the site of the former Castle Street Infirmary, but a cap on student numbers and a reduction in government funding means it will, for the time being, not be able to complete two of the proposed key buildings.
The first phase of the development – the university’s halls of residence for 300 students – opened in September 2009.
The second phase – the refurbishment of two listed buildings to house the business school, teaching facilities and wellbeing centre, will be opened in September.
But an underground conference centre and a multi-purpose teaching block, which would have fronted Croft Road, have now been put on hold.
The decision means no more buildings will be added to the site in the near future, although the remainder of the campus will be landscaped once the current building work is complete.
Last week, universities learned that their budgets were to be cut by £449 million for 2010/11, including a 1.6 per cent reduction (£215 million) in teaching funding.
They have also been told to freeze student intake, resulting in a further loss of predicted funding.
A spokesman for the University of Worcester said it was too early to put a figure on the reduction.
Work on the five-acre city campus was due for completion in 2011. It had been predicted that by 2012 there would be 12,000 students at the university. The university will have about 9,000 students after its September intake.
The spokesman added: “The university is campaigning against this freeze. This matter will be discussed at the university’s next board of governors meeting, which takes place in March.
“The university can confirm that the refurbishment of the former Worcester Royal Infirmary and Mulberry House is fully funded and will be completed during this summer and open in September.”
She said plans to build a new sports arena on the site of the former fruit market in Hylton Road and a £100 million redevelopment of Grove Farm would not be affected.
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